After the international publicity given to "Doctor Death", Jayant Patel, a surgeon who was jailed for seven years for manslaughter and grievous bodily harm, the last thing the Australian state of Queensland needs is bad publicity about bad doctors. 

However, the state government is investigating reports that a hospital doctor was responsible for several deaths. 

The media has focused on one event. The unnamed doctor allegedly gave a brutal assessment of an 83-year-old woman's condition to her and her relatives. Later that evening, unasked, he turned off her oxygen. Although nurses turned it back on, she died painfully. 

Later on, another doctor reported this case and several others to the Queensland Medical Board. There was an investigation and the doctor was allowed to retain his registration, although he was not allowed to work in intensive care. A whistleblower who used to work with the Board told ABC News that it… click here to read whole article and make comments

Here's an interesting debate between Dr Rosalie Guttman, of the Final Exit Network, an "Exit guide", and president of Hemlock of Illinois, and John Kelly, a disabled man, the director of a Massachusetts group called Second Thoughts, which lobbies against euthanasia for the disabled. They discuss the case of British man Tony Nicklinson. 

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Today, according to the Sunday Times, Lord Falconer (pictured) will publish his new bill on assisted suicide. In line with the recommendations of his sham ‘Commission on Assisted Dying’ he will push for doctors being given the power to help mentally competent adults with less than one year to live to kill themselves. 

There has been surprisingly little media coverage about this event, but Dignity in Dying (the former Voluntary Euthanasia Society) are planning a mass lobby on Parliament tomorrow to launch an ‘enquiry’ into this new bill which they hope will be debated in the New Year. 

Over the last six years there have been three failed attempts to legalise assisted suicide in Britain since 2006 all of which have failed due to concerns about public safety. 

An article in the Huffington Post this morning should heighten these concerns.

It gives an account of the deaths… click here to read whole article and make comments

On Wednesday the British Medical Association Annual Representative Meeting debated a motion on euthanasia. Motion 332 called for the BMA to adopt a neutral position on ‘assisted dying’. It had been brought forward by members of the pressure group ‘Healthcare Professionals for Assisted Dying’(HPAD) in an attempt to neutralise medical opposition to assisted suicide and euthanasia ahead of a new parliamentary bill calling for legalisation. HPAD is closely affiliated to Dignity in Dying, the former Voluntary Euthanasia Society and this motion was part of a carefully orchestrated campaign.

332 Motion by THE AGENDA COMMITTEE (MOTION TO BE PROPOSED BY THE SHROPSHIRE DIVISION):
That this Meeting:-
i) believes that assisted dying is a matter for society and not for the medical profession;
ii) believes that the BMA should adopt a neutral position on change in the law on assisted dying.

The proposer, Professor Raymond… click here to read whole article and make comments

Public opinion surveys in numerous countries indicate consistently that around three-quarters of those polled favour assisted suicide, dignified dying, mercy killing, medical aid in dying or other euphemisms for euthanasia dreamed up by the enemy. As we know, questionnaires tend to be couched in the sort of terminology likely to elicit an emotional response. Respondents are denied the opportunity to explore the issue in depth. All too few, it seems, know about life-affirming websites such as MercatorNet that could help them do so.

The masses are not getting the pro-life message. They have been persuaded through subtle brainwashing by an acquiescent media that a 'right to die' based on individual autonomy transcends the right to life - a self-evidently absurd proposition but one that has taken root in the public mind. Let us consider two practical problems arising from this misconception. The first concerns life insurance. To my knowledge, all… click here to read whole article and make comments

The legalisation of euthanasia is a real possibility in the Australian state of Tasmania. But today’s media launch of a stunning new website could tip the balance in favour of opponents. Hopefully it will get widespread publicity.

RealDignityTas.com is a web forum for eminent Tasmanians highlight the harms and risks associated with removal of the legal prohibition on euthanasia and assisted suicide. A number of short video clips make the issues come alive. Here’s a selection. Check it out.

For Tasmanians, here is the press release, with the names of the contributors. Media RELEASE Real Dignity Launch 11 May 2012

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People with intellectual disabilities, all children and people with dementia should be able to request euthanasia, the Belgian Liberal Humanist Association (HVV) has declared. Its president, Jacinta De Roeck, a former senator who helped to draft the current law, says: “We can not accept that a certain group of people should be completely excluded from self-determination over life and death.”

This is an especially touchy topic in Belgium because of  the euthanasia of mentally handicapped people in neighbouring Germany under the Nazis. However, Ms De Roeck insists that the issue has to be considered. “Even someone with mental retardation, who is found to be mature enough by the team should be able to ask for euthanasia.”

The HVV is also lobbying for children of any age to have the right to ask for euthanasia.  The HVV website states that “children who are in a hopeless situation have a high degree of maturity, especially compared… click here to read whole article and make comments

Mickey Rooney, the Hollywood icon who testified before the US Congress about his experience with elder abuse, stars in an 82-minute documentary, “Last Will and Embezzlement”. It has a certain relevance to bioethics: the growing incidence of elder abuse has been flagged as an important reason why it would be dangerous to legalise euthanasia. ~ cross-posted from BioEdge

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“This is one of those unfortunate cases...in which, it is, no doubt, a hardship upon the plaintiff to be without a remedy but by that consideration we ought not to be influenced. Hard cases, it has frequently been observed, are apt to introduce bad law.” Judge Robert Rolfe 1st Baron Cranworth in Winterbottom v Wright UK 1842.

“Great cases like hard cases make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of their importance... but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment.” Oliver Wendell Holmes Jnr (Northern Securities Co. v. United States 1904)

The UK case of the plight of Locked-In suffer, Tony Nicklinson, who is seeking to ‘change the existing understanding of the common law’ on assisted suicide (effectively, murder) is by any rendering a hard case.

Nicklinson had a massive stroke in 2005 that has left him in a Locked-In… click here to read whole article and make comments